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As I mentioned in my last post my old house is undergoing some “serious” renovation, and according to our contractor it will be ready in few days. Well better be it ready as I am half way to finish my packing for this big move, and have already confirmed the schedule with the moving company, so “few days” should really mean few days.

I will be out of my condo and leaving the beautiful Vancouver, believe or not, in these “few days”. I have grown pretty close to this city and all things it has to offer: great outdoors, plenty of diverse restaurants, entertainment, shopping and list goes on and on, so I will be needing some time to adjust to the new, very quiet and not so vibrant city I am moving in. Well, I think that I am pretty good at adapting so I am sure I will handle this one good too.

However, let me be clear, one thing that I will not be missing for sure is Vancouver’s RAIN, RAIN, RAIN. Yes, I repeated it three times because it rains in Vancouver more than one could ever take so, being a light and sun lover like myself, I found the clouds and RAIN in this city to be quite bothersome at times.

While being in the midst of packing, there is no time for cooking and baking so I am showing you the last cake that I prepared two weeks ago in my kitchen.

It’s a Tres Leche Cake which simply translates to three milk cake.

This cake is considered to be a traditional Mexican dessert and it is very popular throughout Latin America. It is a sponge cake soaked in three types of milk – condensed milk, evaporated milk and, depending on the recipe, half and half, whole milk or heavy cream.
Lately, this recipe has become extremely popular in my home country, so if you are a Tres Leches fun you will find the “TRE LEQE” cake everywhere over there: in restaurants as a desert; in coffee shops; bakeries; supermarkets, and even in grocery stores. If you happen to be invited as a guest or if you are paying a simple short visit to someone over there, be prepared that most likely you will be served with the “tre leqe”, because this cake has currently reached its popularity peak and has become the “cake to be served” kind of cake.
Even though it is very tasty, fluffy, creamy and rich cake I do not fancy it that much, but my husband loves it so I have made this cake quite often lately. I used different recipes, and have also tried a family recipe from a friend in Spain, but I have come up with this easy and light version of this cake.

Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees ‘F. Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan until coated and dust it with flour.
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Separate eggs.
Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over the flour mixture and stir very gently until combined.
Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.
Fold egg white mixture into the batter very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out the surface.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a ire rack and allow to cool.
Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream in a small pitcher or another dish with a spout. When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times. Slowly drizzle the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can.
Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes. To ice the cake, prepare 2 packages of the instant desert topping according to the package instruction.
Spread over the surface of the cake or decorate it by piping the topping. I have used an open star Willson tip to decorate the cake. Pour caramel flavor Dolche de Leches over the icing. It will give an extra layer of flavor to the cake, and will taste delicious. Cut into squares and serve. The cake is best if served a day after as to allow for the flavors to incorporate and for the sponge to absorb the milk.
If you try this recipe I would love to hear from you on how your cake turned out.
Thank you for reading.
Besa

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After immigrating to Canada our goal, among so many other goals, was to own a home. It was not a very simple goal to accomplish though. Immediately after settling my husband and I worked odd jobs which did not pay much, but this did not discourage us from the desire to own a home.

During our first year in Canada we managed to build a good credit and save some money for a down payment so our mortgage application was approved easily. However, considering the low paid jobs at that time we could only purchase a small starter home so we were lucky to find a small, ranch-style home in a good location. The house was old and small, but it was well maintained and had a huge immaculate yard with two willow trees that gave the backyard a peaceful look.

Because of our job opportunities we had to move to another places so we lived in this house for only 14 months. Since then the house has been a rental, and this May 2013 it reached its 15th year of rental anniversary. Lately, we decided to go back to live in this house but ,after the last visit with the renters, we realized that in order to live there we needed to undertake major renovation.

The day the renters vacated the house we started with the “demolition”, and this is how the living room looked at about 12.00 am on 1 May 2013.

We removed the part of the wall that divided the kitchen and the living room. This was a MUST because we love open spaces, and moreover this will create an illusion of a larger space, something that everybody strives for.

In order to have a direct access to the backyard from the kitchen, we are replacing the kitchen window with a french door, so beside the practicality this alteration will bring more light to the space. Natural light is also another MUST to the space I occupy, as I may be described as a person who can function at its best in a space that boasts tons of natural light.

Even at this rough stage I am loving how it turned out. The space instantly feels larger and brighter.

We are also replacing everything in the bathroom, so this is the last shot from the old bathroom and every item in this picture is now in the landfill including the drywall throughout, as well as the flooring. The bathroom walls are being redone using a moisture resistant boards and we are doing new plumbing too.

The tub is being replaced with a walk in shower and we have chosen the slate tiles for the shower surround and the bathroom floor.

In order to have an unified flooring surface throughout the house we are putting new flooring on top of the exiting one, and also the baseboards will be replaced with 6” wide ones.

Everything is selected and delivered, and awaiting the implementation.

Since this renovation is taking place in another city we took a trip and stayed almost a week in a hotel so we could oversee the beginning of the project and select and bye the needed material. However, we had to return back to Vancouver so I am now just praying that everything will turn out as I have envisioned and planned.

Even though renovations and remodeling can be quite stressful, for me such undertakings have always represented fun and joy, so I am quite exited about this project too. I will, therefore, share with you this fun and excitement by keeping you updated on how this project is coming along, and I hope you will enjoy it too.

I am sure that you would like to see those “before” and “after” pictures which will be coming soon, so visit my blog to check those out.